


Horrors of Floor 49

by ChaosRose



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Gen, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 12:26:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6566170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosRose/pseuds/ChaosRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes there's some truth to the rumor mill. Zack discovers this when during one week of work the bodies at Shinra start to pile up. So he tries to piece together the mystery and figure out what's going on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Horrors of Floor 49

**Monday 5:45PM**

Some song played over the radio speakers as Zack bounced his head slightly along to it. He was barely listening but there was a good beat so he bounced. He set his feet up on one of the lounge tables, leaning back on the couch.

“Yo, Zack!” A voice met his ears over the music.

Sitting up and turning to the sound, Zack grinned a hello to the other 2nd, “Hey, Kunsel!” He gave a small wave as the other hopped over the back of the couch to sit next to him. 

“I thought you had a meeting with Angeal every Monday at 5:00.” The helmeted SOLDIER commented. “You’re not usually done already.”

“Nah, Angeal hasn’t gotten here yet. I guess the 1st’s mission ran late.” It took a moment to look at his friend who had been staring at him since he’d said that. “What?” 

“All three of them are still out? When did they leave?” 

“Um… this morning I think.” 

“Well shit. That’s not good.”

Zack blinked and scratched his head. “So they’re taking a little longer, that’s not that big a deal.”

“No, dude.” Kunsel cut him off. “It’s Monday.”

“Yeah. And?” Zack still didn’t get where this was going.

Kunsel kept staring at him bewildered. “How could you be a 2nd and be a personal student of Angeal and not know about the 1st’s Monday night appointment?” You couldn’t see the entirety of Kunsel’s bewildered stare from under his helmet as Zack just shrugged. He sighed, “Alright, this is the deal. Every Monday at exactly 4:00PM all three of the 1st Class SOLDIERs have to go through a special mako procedure. It can’t start even a minute later than 4:00.” The SOLDIERs getting regular mako infusions was normal but this was the first Zack had heard of a special one that the 1sts had to do. “Rumor has it that something happens to them while their bodies readjust to the special mako.”

Zack scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Seriously? You’re buying into that rumor mill. The same rumor mill that says Director Lazard is a vampire and goes into the slums to feed and terrorize?”

“How else do you explain him going there like clockwork?”

“Your knowledge of everyone’s schedules, comings and goings is a bit concerning some times.”

Before a response could be made, the pair of 2nds turned to look out into the halls to the sound of three sets of distinct footfalls perfectly in sync. There was the telling clunk of Angeal’s boots at full sprint, the familiar click of Genesis’s heels as they made contact with the hard floor, and the near silent steps of Sephiroth alongside them. It was rare, if ever, one saw the three together in such a rush. Even to the point of disregard to those in their path that didn’t get out of the way in time. And even then they never lost their synchronized strides.

“Go home, Zack!” Angeal shouted, not even sparing a second to look. “We’ll meet tomorrow!”

Zack and Kunsel looked to one another. “Want to go get drinks?” Kunsel asked.

“Sure.” 

~~

The doors of the elevator opened and the trio hurried out on to the Science floors and down the hall. “Professor!” Angeal called out as they entered the lab.

Hojo scoffed, not even turning around from his work station. “You three are almost two hours late.” Before any of them could respond, Hojo waved at them over his shoulder. “I don’t care to hear any reasoning. Get in the tanks and we’ll discuss all this after.”

The three looked at each other with differing expressions. Angeal held concern for the other two, Genesis seemed flustered over this whole mess, and as usual, Sephiroth was nigh unreadable by anyone that wasn’t one of his two best friends. With simultaneous sighs, the three entered the mako tanks as per routine at this point. They closed their eyes as the tanks filled and their consciousness drifted to black. Once in proper stasis, Hojo flipped a few switches and a new substance was introduced as the normal blue-green of the mako turned black and obscured the three SOLDIERs save for the movement of their hair floating in the liquid.

They were only in the tanks for about thirty minutes before Hojo drained the discolored mako and released them. They had to sit and briefly recover from the procedure. So Hojo took the time to go over the ramifications of their current situation. “I still do not care why you were late.” He said curtly. “You were and that is that. What matters at this point is that your bodies will now take another week to get re-synced with the process, and you all know what that comes with. You will remain inside the Shinra building until your subsequent procedure next Monday.” The three most decorated employees in the history of the company sat under Hojo’s stare like scolded school children. They had gone through all this before and had made an agreement never to do so again. But now they had no choice. This week was going to be hell.

~~

Tuesday came and went as if the night before had never happened. Angeal had said nothing about changing their weekly meeting like that and Zack just shrugged it off as a fluke thing and nothing to really concern himself over. Whispers were floating around the floor about the side effects of the 1sts late procedure but Zack ignored the rumors. He was from a small backwater town where everyone knew everyone else’s business. Most of the time rumors and gossip didn’t have a leg to stand on. So why would this be any different? The only difference was as evening approached Angeal dismissed Zack and made his way up to the science floors where Genesis and Sephiroth were waiting.

~~

Wednesday was the first sign of something slightly unusual for the other SOLDIERs to notice. Normally alert Angeal was lethargic and sluggish in most of his actions. Sephiroth, who normally walked the floor as if he owned it (which he nearly did), simply glided through with no regard for anything around him, no glares at slackers, no scolding incompetence; he was a ghost. Genesis had the most physical signs; darkened eyes, mussed hair, and looking overall exhausted. The whispers weren’t there today. No one dared say anything about the frazzled 1sts.

~~

**Thursday 1:26AM**

The lone security guard sat at the monitors in the guard station. He was still only partway through his night shift and bored out of his mind. It’s not like anything exciting happened around here at night. Which is exactly when one of the cameras on Floor 50 went out. The sudden blacked out screen brought the guard out of his stupor. There were only a few cameras on that floor, since it was used as the barracks for SOLDIERs who either had to remain in the building overnight or had yet to afford housing for themselves in the city. He focused on the other cameras and didn’t see a thing. On Floor 49 though, a dark shadow moved passed the camera focused on the stairwell door between the two floors. 

Grabbing his baton and side arm, the MP made his way up the elevators to check things out. There couldn’t be a chance that there was someone unauthorized on the SOLDIER floors and according to the rosters, no SOLDIERs currently occupied the barracks.

As the elevator doors opened, the MP peered out and looked around. His hand hovered over his gun, ready to draw it at a second’s notice. The floor was dark save for the emergency lights, the air was still, and the silence pounded in his ears. He walked the floor, looking for any signs of anyone else there. He continued to get the feeling of being watched. He occasionally had to spin to an open door or hall, thinking he saw a glowing light but there was nothing there when he would look.

A shadow suddenly shot passed him in the dark, he spun to catch it but didn’t see it. Only able to hurry in the direction it had moved in. Another shadow shot passed him, this time able to see some kind of figure headed for the holodeck as the doors of it closed. The MP stood outside the doors, gun readied as he prepared himself. With minimal swift movements, he opened the holodeck doors and fired at the first sign of movement, but even that was too little too late as the glowing lights were on him and all went black.

~~

**Thursday 6:30AM**

Zack yawned and stretched as he walked out of the elevator onto the SOLDIER floor. He noticed some commotion over by the holodeck. There were several MPs and even a few Turks standing around with just about every SOLDIER on duty this morning. Walking over himself, he noticed Reno among them. “What’s up?” He asked as he approached.

Reno gave him a casual wave as Zack got near, but there was no smile from him this morning. “Some seriously fucked up shit dude. Something killed the MP on guard last night.”

Zack’s mouth hung agape as he followed Reno’s nod towards the blood smears on the floor. If not for what clothing remained, one wouldn’t be able to tell what the heap on the floor was. His helmet was smashed and crushed as if had been little more than an empty soda can. The cameras that would have caught this incident were also smashed up. There wasn’t much left of the man’s face as much of it had been clawed beyond even disfigurement. His entire chest cavity lay open, ribs looking like they had been pried apart. One thing was not noticeable among all the blood and shattered bones. “Whatever it was took his heart. It’s completely gone, yanked right out of his chest.” Reno shuddered next to him as he filled Zack in on that fact.

“What the hell did this?”

“We don’t know.”

~~

Since Wednesday, sightings of the 1sts became even more infrequent. By Saturday, people started to realize that no one had seen them at all. There had been other attacks on employees who hung about in the early morning hours. There was no pattern to the disfigurement, other than having caused as much pain as possible and any cameras that would’ve seen what happened were destroyed.

Zack was getting frustrated, normally he would ask Angeal for his advice on how to handle this, but Angeal wasn’t around to ask. If he talked to any of the higher ups they would tell him to forget about the incidents and get back to work. Well this time he would have to take matters into his own hands. With a little help from Reno and Kunsel, he was able to find out who the night shift MP was for the next night, made some arrangements, and dropped some gil to let Zack handle the shift and not tell anyone about it. He put on the MP uniform, taking a moment to readjust to it, having not worn one in a few years since he was a cadet. He grabbed his sword and settled into his stake out.

~~

**Sunday 11:58PM**

Zack had done a total sweep of the building, and couldn’t find anyone. Good it meant that he was alone with whatever it was that had been killing his coworkers. The Shinra building was so different at night. Normally it was bustling with activity, but now it was a silent ghost town. It was eerie. But Zack wasn’t scared, he was a 2nd after all and once he handled whatever was lurking he would be a hero.

~~

**Monday 2:38AM  
**

The silence persisted, but so did Zack. He did regular patrols and watched the monitors with intent. Until finally he saw the movement he was looking for. A few cameras went black and a shadow moved passed another. Hurrying to his feet he headed up to the SOLDIER floor, ready to confront whatever was there.

He walked the silent halls, checking every hall and open door. Wondering if this was how the MP felt before he had been attacked. Unlike that MP though, he was mako enhanced and he was able to react to things much faster. So this time around, when a glowing light appeared in the hall, Zack was able to turn fast enough to lock sights with it. And what he saw he hadn’t been expecting. The glowing lights were eyes. Bright blue eyes, lit up in the dark. He drew his sword and gritted his teeth. “I see you, now come out here and face me.”

Everyone else had been pounced on before there was time to respond. But something about this prey was different. It was probably something to do with Zack being fast enough to see them and his idiotic courage to call them out. Whatever it was, Zack was still not prepared for the sight that emerged from the shadows. “Genesis?”

The captain’s condition had no category that Zack could place. His normally pale skin was ashen, his sunken features and darkened eyes gave the illusion of fatigue. His movements were quick and aggressive. His grey streaked brown hair seemed dulled. His once pristine uniform was in ruins. His shirt was torn, the SOLDIER belt gone, his pants were tattered. The red coat was even worse; one sleeve ripped apart, the bottom was torn to shreds, the once bold red leather greying and cracking around his shoulders and torso. One shoulder guard had been torn off and the leather under it was ripped open. There was a rustle to his movements, drawing attention to a black wing almost hidden by the dark hall. The wing was unhealthy, shedding feathers with each movement and probably wasn’t capable of getting him off the ground. Sharp claw-like nails had torn through the fingertips of his gloves. The predatory smile revealed a row of sharp teeth. That’s when it became apparent what the sheen on his clothing was. They were bloodstains, nearly unnoticeable against Genesis’s red and black clothing. That’s when it clicked, that look in his eyes, it was blood lust; and Zack had just entered its sight. With little more than a split second to respond, Zack ran and Genesis gave chase.

Weaving in and out of offices and other rooms, Zack was trying to make it to the stairs while attempting to put some distance between him and the red blur in pursuit. He knew there was no way to lose his pursuer, not when he was as well versed with the floor’s layout as Zack was. It seemed to be working though, but as he ran through the briefing room he was barely able to duck under the clawing swipe of another pair of glowing eyes. This time, though, they were green. “Oh fuck.” Zack muttered.

He found himself staring at similar ashen skin, sunken features, claws and predatory grin, but instead of the captain, it was the general. His silver hair was matted with dried blood, bangs hanging limp casting shadows on his face. His gloves and armor were missing. Most of the upper right half of his coat had been torn away. The remaining sleeve and coat were shredded. His revealed skin was smeared with blood, and visible against the shadows was another black wing coming out of his right side. Unlike Genesis’s, his was in a worse state of health with more flesh and visible bone and barely any feathers.

Taking in the sight of Sephiroth had given Genesis the needed time to catch up. Now Zack needed to out run two of them and he did try. The pair had become monstrous but they behaved tactically like their normal selves. They were hunting him strategically, working together to accomplish their goal. The only thing that could make their plan even more successful would be if he were surprised by… “Fuck.” Zack took a step back. He had almost been at the door to the stairs when the last of the three emerged from the shadows. “Angeal…”

It was hard to look at his mentor like this. The same facial features, clawed hands, and sharp smile as the other two. His sleek black hair was now grey and mussed. One shoulder guard gone, the other broken. The collar of his shirt was torn away, the rest of his uniform torn, bloody and disheveled. He also had a wing with a secondary smaller one under it, the blood splatter clearly seen against the white feathers. Both of them were molting and several segments torn to the point where the bone showed. The fiery bloodlust in Angeal’s eyes sent a cold dread to settle in Zack’s stomach.

One in front and two behind, there weren’t a lot of options to get away from them. Not to mention the panic setting in deeper at the sight of three people everyone admired turned into monsters. As Angeal lunged forward at him, flight instinct kicked in and Zack ducked under and to the side causing Angeal to collide into Sephiroth while Genesis was able to react and duck aside. The brunette swiping at Zack as he bolted through the stairwell door.

He ran down a few flights before hearing the echo of the three still giving chase. He was their prey tonight and they’d be damned if he was going to get away. The booming echo of their pursuit caused more panic to course through Zack; causing him to round a corner too fast, clipping the railing and sending him tumbling down a flight of the metal stairs. There was a loud, audible crack as he hit the floor of the landing and intense pain shot through his arm. Stumbling to his feet, he gritted through the pain and went through the door of the floor he was on. He ran through the offices, straight across to the elevators. He didn’t want to risk making too many turns on a floor he wasn’t familiar with. Zack managed to get into the elevator and hit a random floor as the sounds of the three 1sts tearing through the floor got closer.

Now able to take a moment to catch his breath and collect his thoughts, Zack realized the pain in his side. Looking down he saw the blue shirt torn and soaking a deep red. He hadn’t registered the swipe Genesis took at him with all the adrenaline of the moment. Looking to his arm, he felt it and winced, definitely broken. He also was now able to register that he was headed up, not down. Maybe this would be a good thing though. They would probably think he went down and bought himself some time before they found him again. What was he going to do? Call for help? If he did then that would mean revealing the condition of the 1sts to more people. Maybe there was a way to just contain them until morning and figure out the right person to talk to to help them. While they needed something, he didn’t want their names ruined over a condition that was probably not their fault.

The elevator opened and the 2nd peered around. He was on one of the Science Department floors. This was perfect; he could easily seal himself in and figure out what to do. He didn’t know how much time he had before they managed to figure out where he’d gone. They still seemed to have their tactical minds so once he’d been in the elevator they probably did a strategic sweep of the entire building, and probably able to do so much faster in their current states.

Once in the main lab, Zack sealed the doors behind him and looked around to get a better feel. This was Hojo’s floor, where the man usually worked alone, save for the occasional assistant. If there was a way to sedate or contain the three, it would probably be here. Of course, Zack had no idea what he was looking for so just walked around and hoped to get lucky.

Something on the floor caught his eye. Reaching down he picked it up, twirling a black feather between his fingers. Bringing his attention back to the floor, he noticed more creating a black and white trail to a pair of doors. The steel looked like it had been pried apart as if they had been made out of aluminum. The room itself looked like a slaughter house. Blood stained the floor and walls, feathers and bones were collected in puddles of blood. A closer look revealed them to be nothing more than steak and chicken bones, much to Zack’s relief. Someone or something had been contained in here. There was a torn SOLDIER belt in a corner, along with broken and lost armor, and torn pieces of coat and uniform. That’s when it hit Zack, this is where they had been hiding out during the day. Even with all their enhancements and normal skill the three of them couldn’t face down the entire of the Shinra army, plus all of SOLDIER. Well maybe they could normally but they weren’t really themselves right now. There were just too many people. At night things were sparse and conditions were better for them to hunt down stragglers in the building. They were still smart and would explain most of the attacks happening on the SOLDIER floor. It was their territory; they knew it well, so they’d lure prey there.

As for this room, all this blood and torn clothing here would explain their appearance. Their victims barely had time to put up fights, so they wouldn’t be the cause of it. “They did all that to each other…” he gulped, suddenly feeling sick imagining it. It was probably from when they first started changing. Then he thought to the meat bones… someone knew they were like this. This was Hojo’s private lab. He knew. He’s known this whole time. At the same time this realization held no real surprise to Zack. But maybe he had some files or something that would tell him what was going on and how to help them.

He went to Hojo’s computer and turned it on, which wasn’t easy one handed, rubbing at his eyes as his vision blurred a little. The opening screen made Zack realize he’d need a password. Feeling his pockets, hoping they hadn’t been torn off in the chase, he found a flashdrive Kunsel and Reno had given him. Plugging it in, the program in it started up and hacked its way through Hojo’s passwords and safeties. “Come on, there has to be something.” There were just so many files, he had to think. “Monday. That’s a start.” He looked for a file that had been updated on Monday around the time they had been late to their appointment; which after a little digging, he found. “ _Soul wrought of terra_ … ugh too many fancy words.” He skimmed the file for clues and found a trove of them. It appeared as if this project had started over a year prior and during the initial week saw the unfortunate passing of Doctor Hollander. Zack remembered that, it had been labeled an unfortunate laboratory accident. “Well now we know what the ‘accident’ was.” So apparently Hollander had been running separate tests on Angeal and Genesis, although very similar to Hojo’s on Sephiroth, and came across the same problem. Something about alien DNA cutting them off from the Lifestream and needing to find a way to reconnect them. Regular mako treatments weren’t working, so Hojo unearthed some old research from some of his former colleagues, a Dr. Crescent and Dr. Valentine, about something called Chaos. Hojo and Hollander introduced some of this Chaos essence into normal SOLDIER mako treatments on the three and there were promising results.

Zack was dragged away from his reading at the sound of pounding and scraping metal of the doors. They’d picked up his trail. At the same time, his vision was starting to get blacker. The adrenaline was wearing off and blood loss was finally getting to him. He stumbled, hoping to find some place to hide.

~~

On the other side of the door, Genesis and Sephiroth stood on either side as Angeal grabbed the doors and started to pry them open. In this state, his strength was increased superhumanly. Once the way was open the three swarmed in, following the fresh blood trail until finally coming across their prey. They found him slumped over in front of the mako chambers, nearly dead.

Angeal started to move forward when Sephiroth grabbed his arm. Looking back, the silver haired nodded to a sword on the floor that Genesis picked up. The hilt had the symbol of SOLDIER on it, something they all registered. Angeal walked over to the slumped body and sniffed at the air briefly. A raised eyebrow, he sat the body up and ripped off the helmet, nearly snapping the person’s neck from the sheer force. Staring at the spikey black haired pup in front of him, Angeal took a long moment to think before something in his mind clicked and registered the face. “Zack…” The voice was rough from lack of use. The three 1sts look to each other. There were no words spoken but a conversation was had. Angeal heaved Zack’s limp form up while Genesis opened one of the chambers. Once sealed, Sephiroth worked the computer to fill it with the Chaos infused mako.

~~

**Monday 4:03PM, 6 months later**

Zack and Angeal practically tripped over each other getting into the lab. “You two are late.” Hojo frowned.

“Sorry, Professor.” Zack mumbled. “We…”

“I don’t care. Get in.” Hojo ordered nodding at the mako tanks, two of which were already filled with the blackened mako. “We will discuss this afterwards.”


End file.
